Blog Posts

The Magnificent Seven (Amazon, Apple, Google (Alphabet), Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia and Tesla) make up more than a quarter of the US market, and their stellar performance has driven the US market’s outperformance so far this year. But this overblown market concentration is unsustainable and may result in a swift reversal, exposing investors to greater risk. Investors have been in a tough spot this year, having to choose between partaking in the extraordinary returns of the Magnificent Seven and avoiding the risks that come with an over-concentrated portfolio. Here we look at the impact of the Magnificent Seven on the US market through the lens of ten charts.

We love data. Our clients love data. But when it comes to truly understanding the risk-reward trade-off of an investment strategy, sometimes the devil isn’t in the details. In a whitepaper, “What are the odds?: Getting a better read on portfolio risk-return metrics”, we advocate for spending more time with the portfolio summary metrics as the first port of call, before jumping in headlong into more granular statistics.

Despite all the uncertainty surrounding key macro inputs, as well as a volatile geopolitical environment, the STOXX US Index is up more than 18% year to date in line with other major US large-cap indices. And quite notably, market volatility, as measured by the various time horizons in our risk models and VIX, has been steadily declining.

Armelle Loeb, head of index sales for EMEA at STOXX, discusses the evolution and appeal of custom and factor-based indices, and why custom income strategies have delivered good performance.

As hedge funds pile up short Treasury future positions like it’s February 2020, certain parts of the financial markets are getting nervous that we could be in for a repetition of the liquidity crisis seen in early March that year.

The real estate sector has a variety of activities that align with the different UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This holds true both for (affordable) housing, as well as for other types of real estate, such as hospitals and the provision of laboratory space and schools.

In its 25th anniversary, the EURO STOXX 50’s ecosystem continues to grow with a new fund that comes amid sustained demand for responsible investing strategies.

The market for funds of private assets has grown enormously over the last decade, with 2021 and 2022 being exceptional years. Things have cooled off a bit in the first half of 2023, but the long-term outlook is for private investments to play an increasingly important role for asset owners and asset managers. Large shifts are also underway in the debt markets, where private credit is rivaling banks as a source of funding.

Changes were announced as part of the September regular review of the DAX 50 ESG, DAX 50 ESG+, DAX ESG Target, DAX ESG Screened, MDAX ESG+, MDAX ESG Screened and DAX indices.

ISS ESG takes stock of progress this year in new rules on corporate sustainability disclosure, with Europe at the center of action. The data, analytics and solutions provider concludes that regulation change is accelerating, raising reporting requirements for companies and investors alike.

The STOXX Global 1800 index fell 2.4% last month and the STOXX World AC lost 2.7% amid expectations that US interest rates may stay high to combat inflation. European, Asian, and Chinese shares in particular, led the pullback following weaker economic data.

On the surface, constructing a sustainable portfolio or index may seem relatively straightforward. After all, it’s just about excluding and reweighting – or is it?